Jeff Mirus, " The Renewal Of The Jesuits, For Obvious Reasons, Is Of The Highest Importance For The Renewal Of The Church"

Convicted and now former Jesuit Donald McGuire

In the wake of the abuse scandal, when the Vatican reiterated in no uncertain terms that men with same-sex begun to pay out immense funds, for such a small group of men, to settle claims of sexual abuse. Few doubt that this is the tip of a very large iceberg. Nonetheless, one of the greatest scandals is that the Jesuits still tend to set the tone for Catholic higher education in many parts of the world. For this reason, their influence among Catholic intellectuals, social leaders and politicians is far more pervasive than it should be, and the formation received at a good many wayward Jesuit schools enables such leaders to claim to be fully Catholic while actually denying the Faith. For this reason, I have long been an advocate of suppressing and then reconstituting the Order with those members who are willing to make a public commitment to the founding charism, including absolute obedience to the Pope. But there may now be another way.

attraction were not to be admitted to the priesthood, the Jesuits were among the loudest in denunciation and resistance. This surprised nobody, as anecdotal evidence of intense sympathy for the gay lifestyle, and even the protection of pedophiles among their own members, was already the stuff of legend. Now the Order has

We must remember that there are still Jesuits, including a few youngish recruits, who have remained uninfected by the related diseases of secularism and Modernism. Up to now they have been held in severe check. Because corrupt superiors in a religious order can make things very difficult for members who wish to be faithful to the Church (as Pope Francis himself has experienced), and because this state of affairs invariably discourages deeply committed and orthodox young men from entering the order, renewal from the top down becomes very important.

In other words, somebody somehow has to open up avenues of preferment to those who are sound—by which I mean not only intelligent but doctrinally and morally faithful to Christ. The leadership of the Society has been notoriously difficult to penetrate, but when—ecclesiastically speaking—the highest and most influential Jesuits are demonstrably outside the Order’s internal governing structure, interesting opportunities may well emerge. I am not yet making fresh predictions. But the key question is this: How can the Church bring herself to the point at which she can effectively guide the Jesuits once again? That is why the election of Pope Francis, and even the appointment of Fr. Ryan, are so interesting. We should watch for similar moves elsewhere, and take careful note of what happens over the next few years. The renewal of the Jesuits, for obvious reasons, is of the highest importance for the renewal of the Church.

Link (here) to the full and lengthy piece by Jeff Mirus at Catholic Culture